The worms used in the movie were destined to be fish bait before being bought the morning of the shoot from a bait store. After their night of shooting, the lucky worms were released into the wild to frolic in the mud at their leisure.
In the scene at the "Martin Brody High School", is named after the lead character from Jaws. Also, a man named "Matt Hooper and principal Quint" with a reference to a student "Ben Gardner" all were characters from Jaws.
The first worm used in the infamous "worm" scene had to be replaced do to its tendency to defecate in actress PJ Woodside's mouth.